Two idiotic Chinese guardian lions are the amiable stars of a brand-new 3D-animated series that marks Disney’s first original Chinese television co-production. Entitled Ban Jin Ba Liang, the show finally premiered in January on China’s Dragon TV channel after seven years of development.

A few days after the broadcast, gbtimes spoke to Kevin Geiger, one of the show’s creators and a Disney feature animation veteran, to learn more about Ban Jin Ba Liang and the challenges of making a show for Disney in China.

Ups-and-downs, twists and turns

The story of Ban Jin Ba Liang began in 2009 when Geiger and two Chinese colleagues - his wife Wen Feng and their friend Yi Yan - were looking for ideas to develop with their new Beijing-based content company Magic Dumpling Entertainment. They were shocked to discover that nobody had hit upon using Foo Dogs, the stone lions which stand guard outside of many Chinese buildings, as characters.

“It was kind of amazing to us,” recalls Geiger. “We saw some independent clay animation done back in the 1950s about stone lions, but nothing really notable or playing off of the premise so strongly; and certainly nothing recently. So we hopped on that as quickly as we could.”

The initial concept was edgier in terms of the characters and humour, as well as being sharper in its social commentary, but the show evolved after Disney China acquired the property in 2012. The Magic Dumpling founders also joined Disney China the same year to help develop its Greater China Local Content team.

Geiger had previously worked as a CG supervisor at Disney Feature Animation in Burbank, California before moving to Beijing in 2008. After leaving the US, Geiger never dreamed that he would return to work for Disney, let alone help develop a show that his former employer would acquire.

“Developing a show for Disney is not easy and developing a show for China that can get through the regulatory environment here is not easy. Trying to do a show which does both is a tall order. This being Disney’s very first TV co-production ever, it’s a great honour… but it certainly wasn’t easy,” affirms Geiger.

While seven years of development may seem a long time, it is common for TV shows to take 5-10 years to travel from idea to screen but there are many ups-and-downs, twists and turns in between, explains the Disney veteran with over 25 years of experience in the arts and entertainment industry.

Wholesome entertainment

“When we brought Ban Jin Ba Liang into Disney, there were certain adjustments that had to be made to make it more of a Disney show and then as a Chinese co-production the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) here in China has many guidelines,” Geiger revealed.

Many of the rules from China’s media watchdog were consistent with Disney’s philosophy of making wholesome entertainment for children, so the main challenge for Geiger as Head of Creative for Disney China was to balance the show’s entertainment value with what the Chinese authorities were looking for.

This balancing act is a challenge that the Chinese animation industry has struggled to overcome. Animated TV series in China often deal with aspects of its culture in a very self-serious way - even in comedies - which Geiger sees as a by-product of the country’s fundamental respect for elders and their ancestors.

He highlights the government-supported projects which, for example, might be making an animated series about a local war hero: "The creators are afraid of accusations that they are mocking the person or selling them short in some way, limiting how they can play with the characters and with the content."

The 2008 animated feature Kung Fu Panda showed both the Chinese audience and creators that you can take a panda, have it doing martial arts and be playful, yet still have it teach a lesson and be fun, notes Geiger.

Out-tested Boonie Bears

Co-produced by Disney China and Shanghai-based SMG Toonmax, Ban Jin Ba Liang is Mandarin for ‘Tweedledee and Tweedledum’, characters from Lewis Carroll’s novel Through the Looking-Glass, and the show follows the misadventures of two ne'er-do-well friends.

The show enters a Chinese marketplace that has seen a marked increase in quality for 3D animation over the past few years. Currently, one of the China’s most popular animated children’s shows is Boonie Bears, which is about two bears trying to stop a determined logger from cutting down their forest home.

“During the pilot testing for Ban Jin Ba Liang, we actually out-tested Boonie Bears in terms of future viewing intentions for the test audiences,” reveals Geiger. “This means that after they had watched the pilot episode they were asked if they’d be more likely to watch this show or this other show: Ban Jin Ba Liang rated higher than the current popular shows in China.”

If the series manages to match the potential suggested in the test screenings then Geiger speculates that there is a strong possibility it will eventually appear on the Disney Channel in the USA and some parts of Europe, albeit with the English title Stoney and Rocky.

With Ban Jin Ba Liang in its broadcast infancy and Geiger, who left Disney China in 2015, not privy to any official TV ratings, there was no immediate access to viewing figures. However, there was one critic whose judgement meant a great deal to the show’s co-founder: his 19-month-old daughter.

“The show has been on-the-air every morning, and she’s been glued to the TV. She has no reason to kiss up to me because we’re blood relatives. I think it’s a good sign that she is engrossed with the show."